Friday, November 2, 2012

Bouquet of Weeds

Greetings friends and family,

I waited for three weeks to bust out my Spiderman suit for Halloween. Easton was super excited when he saw us together in the mirror for the first time. Layla's Rapunzel hair and costume lasted through the week of Halloween festivities. She complimented about half of the girl trick-or-treaters with sincere, well-thought kind words. Easton was speechless most of the time, but regularly pointed out characters he knew. The conversations went something like this:

Layla: Wow, your sparkly shoes are sooooo cute!
Easton: Hulk! Pumpkin! Ironman! Daddy, what is that guy with the blood dripping down his face supposed to be?

The three of us went Trick or Treating around the neighborhood while Kendra sat in our driveway and passed out candy. Our neighborhood is a bustling stream of families, which is completely opposite from our previous house. The old place was located on a dead-end street in a cul-de-sac so our traffic was zero every year. It's very fortuitous to think about how we came to our current neighborhood every year for the past 10 and now we live here. One year ago today we started the remodeling project of our house. I'm determined to post the before and after pictures... finally.

Layla and Easton's home-made dental plan reached rock-star level. Every night and almost every morning they go through the procedure. We helped them for a good habit through simple repetition. Now if we accidentally send them to bed without brushing, they remind us get out of bed to make sure the teeth are clean. Our ritual includes a two-minute cycle with the Kid's Sonicare unit, dedicated tooth paste for each kid, rinsing with the "pink juice", flossing, and occasionally getting the mess into the sink instead of on the floor.

A friend of mine described a song his wife wrote called "A Bouquet of Weeds". I relate well to the concept because Easton and Layla live this out each day with me. The Dandelions they select are just weeds, but to them this a bouquet of pretty flowers. The giving heart and intention means the world to me so I accept their bouquet as they see it, not as weeds.

Easton's bouquet was half gone because he had tons of fun blowing the seeds off the tops before handing me a wadded up handful of weeds. When he gave them to me I gladly received his gift of love and thanked Easton for the kind gesture.

They both show love in their own way and that's what makes it special. One of my tasks as a parent is to show them what a safe place is. Part of that teaching means I allow them receive AND give love.

We are counting down the days for Ouma and Oupa to arrive. 16 days and we are waiting impatiently!